State-run miner Coal India Ltd on Wednesday said its capital expenditure (Capex) grew 33 per cent to Rs 7,027 crore in April-September FY23 as compared to the year-ago period, the PTI reported.
According to the report, the company's capex in the year-ago period stood at Rs 5,300 crore. The CIL said that the two coal evacuation infrastructure heads, setting up of coal handling plants (CHP)/silos and railways lines, together accounted for 36 per cent or Rs 2,547 crore of the total capex in the period under review.
"Capex push is essential for long-term growth prospects. To align the increasing production with robust transportation logistics, CIL is fast-tracking the development of its coal evacuation system. This would help in handling the seamless movement of coal in future," a senior executive of the PSU said.
Construction of CHPs/silos under first mile connectivity was the major capex head at Rs 1,489 crore during the six-month period of FY23, as compared to Rs 614 crore a year ago.
This affirms the company's intention to put in place a strong coal transportation infrastructure to move more quantities of the dry fuel in the days ahead. Most of the expenditure was incurred by CIL's three subsidiaries MCL, NCL, and SECL.
Coal India accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output.
Coal India on Monday clocked a 106 per cent jump in its consolidated profit at Rs 6,043.99 crore in the September quarter of FY23 on higher revenue from operations. The pubic sector enterprise had posted a consolidated profit of Rs 2,932.73 crore in the year-ago period, Coal India Ltd (CIL) said in a filing to the BSE.
The consolidated revenue from operations of the company during the July-September period of this year increased to Rs 29,838.07 crore from Rs 23,291.08 crore in the year-ago period, the filing said.
The consolidated expenses of the coal behemoth increased to Rs 23,770.12 crore from Rs 20,424.52 crore in the year-ago period. On the standalone basis, the company's profit in the second quarter increased to Rs 2,694 crore, over Rs 1,813.13 crore in the year-ago period.
The standalone sales of the company in the July-September period increased to Rs 164 crore from Rs 0.84 crore in the year-ago period.
The coal production of the maharatna firm during the quarter ended September 30, 2022 increased to 139.228 million tonnes (MT), over 125.839 MT in the corresponding quarter of previous financial year.
The coal offtake during the quarter also went up to 154.533 MT from 147.434 MT in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal year. The company's board declared the first interim dividend of Rs 15 per share for FY23, it said.
Coal India accounts for more than 80 per cent of domestic coal production. The company is targeting an output of 700 MT in the ongoing fiscal year.
CIL will achieve 1 billion tonne coal production target by 2025-26 as against the earlier timeline of 2023-24 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, coal minister Pralhad Joshi had earlier said.